exasperate

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 30, 2008 is: exasperate • \ig-ZAS-puh-rayt\  • verb 1 : to excite the anger of : enrage 2 : to cause irritation or annoyance to Examples: Our former neighbors' habit of throwing loud parties that lasted late into the night thoroughly exasperated us. Did you know? "Exasperate" hangs with a rough crowd. It derives from "exasperatus," the past participle of the Latin verb "exasperare," which in turn was formed by combining "ex-" with "asper," meaning "rough." Another descendant of "asper" in English is "asperity," which can refer to the roughness of a surface or the roughness of someone's temper. Another relative, albeit a distant one, is the English word "spurn," meaning "to reject." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.